I've been in France for a little over a week now, so I thought it would be good to reflect on all the new and different things here.



Everyone says that the French are rude, but I would have to disagree. Nice is a fairly small city with about 350,000 people normally, but in the summer all of the Cote d'Azur is a tourist hotspot. So there are a lot of tourists here, and most of them are French. Most people are just going about their own business and enjoying their time here. Of course, there have been rude people and also really nice people, but I think that's usually how it goes in tourist towns. Also, I don't speak the language well, so if they had any reason to be rude to me, that would be a pretty good one. If a non-English speaking tourist in the US expected to be spoken to in their language, it would be off-putting to say the least. The French people are generally reserved and polite; although, as Rick Steves advised, you do not go down the street here saying "Bonjour" to everyone who passes by. You do say "Pardon" if you get in someones way in the grocery or on the street and "Bonjour" to anyone serving you at all, so in that way the French are more polite than a lot of Americans.

As far as other sterotypes go, no, the French are not all thin, tall, impeccibly dressed, and overwhelmingly beautiful. In fact, they look normal. Body sizes run the gamut, although there are less overly large people. As for clothing, the standard is a bit higher (people tend to wear nicer shoes here, something I always notice) but nothing shocking. This is a touristy beach town though, so I'm sure Paris is a lot different.



The people here are very ethinically mixed, and there are a lot of Islamic people. If I listen hard at the right times I can hear the prayer calls. There are also a lot of people who I would think are American but then I hear they are speaking very French French. People here seem to like to wear t-shirts with American/English things on them. When I was hiking on Castle Hill, I saw a family all wearing college t-shirts from the US and they were definitely not speaking English. There are also a good amount of non-French European tourists. At McDonalds one day, there was a woman in front of me who did not speak French or English - and I thought I had it tough! She was trying to say her order and her and her friends were just laughing at her "try at English." I see quite a few backpackers and every time I am so glad I am not carrying everything I have with me!



The architecture in Nice is unique, although it doesn't feel totally different here. Most of the buildings are about 4-8 stories. The outsides are fancy and the rooves are almost all terracotta. The city is set up on a grid and the roads are one-way. This is not a driving city. So far, I have been able to get everywhere by walking (I like just taking it all in and getting some excercise at the same time), although the tram through the center of the city is a great option as are the Velo Bleu bike rental stations seen all over town. Public transit here is amazing.



My favorite thing here has been the food and wine. Hands down. The grocery store has several cheese areas and a big (and relatively inexpensive) wine section. Those 2 things (my favorites) take up a lot of the store. I can definitely write a whole post on this and I will as soon as I work up the guts to look like a big tourist taking pictures at the grocery. Almost none of the packages have nutrition information, which flies in the face of our numbers crazed American society that wants calorie/fat/carb/everything counts plastered everywhere. A lot of the food is organic ("biologique" - thanks Angela!), as are some body products and wines!

For me it has been a week of adjustment. I almost never do anything alone these days so that in itself has taken some getting used to. The language barrier has intimidated me more than I thought it would but I'm getting much better! I'm pretty familiar with Nice now and I'm ready to venture out, so expect some new destinations to be featured soon!

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If you all wouldn't mind, I would like to get some feedback from you as well. My new posts about my trip are a lot different from my writing in the past. I am wondering if you all are interested? Are they boring? Seriously! I can take it! Anything you would like me to write more or less about? I appreciate positive feedback just as much as constructive crisicsm. Thank you in advance!!